A Great Naturalist • The most exciting, the most satisfying
walk I ever took in the pur- suit of natural history was on and about Hickling Broad with " Jim Vincent." He organised that best of all sanctuaries under Lord Des- borough; and it will be difficult indeed to find a successor. What an army of naturalists, not only in East Anglia, will be saddened by the news of his death. He not only knew birds well, he had a way with them. Without disturbing the birds in the least he showed me at very close quarters the bearded tit feeding its young, and that most furtive of birds, the bittern, sitting on her nest. As we walked across a. bit of rough grass he stooped down not once or twice and disclosed a redshank's nest, thereafter stroking the bents back into their concealing pattern with a fond and delicate touch. And what a wonderful picture he drew of the occasional sudden migrations of hosts of wading birds across those shallow waters and rough islands which give these and other sorts of birds their optimum of conditions. More than this, " Jim Vincent " was so well regarded in the district that the farmers and residents of the neighbourhood became sanctuary-minded. The rare• hawks and waders achieved a certain security' outside the pale of the sanctuary itself.
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